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THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES IN MODERN SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL UPBRINGING

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.33

In the process of spiritual and social development of a person, formation of his or her worldview and active social position, social and humanitarian knowledge plays a major role. The new style of thinking in modern social sciences and humanities includes a change in the nature of cognitive activity: the unity of processes and methods of scientific knowledge, flexibility and versatility of thinking, the interconnection of intuitive, emotional and sensual, visual and figurative, and logical thinking.
Keywords: spiritual development of the individual, social sciences and humanities, intellectual learning.

Khudaverdieva V. A.
PhD in Economics, Associate Professor,
State University of Biotechnology, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Since the formation of the social sciences and humanities, their goal has been proclaimed not only to cognize society, but also to participate in its regulation and transformation. Methodological problems of social cognition began to be actively developed within the system of “cultural sciences” based on certain philosophical and methodological ideas. In modern conditions, the importance of fundamental training of a specialist is growing. This is due to the dynamism and scale of the tasks that humanity must solve as it develops. The growth of the integrity of the world, the increase in the interconnection of various aspects of life implies the introduction of information about complex global processes into everyday life. In order to adequately navigate, and even more so to consciously participate in these processes, a person must be comprehensively developed and well educated [1].

A modern professional should be able to think creatively, solve complex problems in a particular type of activity on his/her own. In addition, he or she needs to constantly adapt to new knowledge and technologies and improve his or her qualifications. Systematic professional development, professional and personal improvement are becoming prerequisites for the successful work of any person engaged in professional activities.

The most important manifestation of professionalism as the highest degree of personal professionalization is the ability to freely create and practically rebuild the world.

This ability is largely conditioned by the formation and development of intellectual professional culture of an individual as an ability to grow professionally, to acquire new knowledge, to solve complex professional problems in a dynamically developing society. The basis of professional and social development of a person is knowledge.

In knowledge, a person masters the object of his or her creative activity and transforms it perfectly.

Already in 1971, D. Bell stated: “The concept of ‘post-industrial society’ emphasizes the central role of theoretical knowledge as the axis around which new technology, economic growth, and new stratification of society are built” [1].

Sociological studies consistently show the relationship between the level of education and psychological, social and spiritual characteristics of a person. Experts predict that in the twenty-first century, the intellectualization of labor will become a major factor in global competition. In developed countries, new knowledge embodied in technologies, equipment, personnel education, and production organization accounts for 70-85% of GDP growth [2].

The introduction of new technologies, informatization and automation of production bring about changes in professional labor that require the development of multilateral and universal skills. In the post-industrial society, “specialization” is being replaced by universalism and professionalism. The formation and shaping of a professional’s personality mainly takes place in a higher education institution, whose special role is to transform universal values into a system of spiritual professional qualities of a personality [3].

A systematic analysis of this problem shows that it was rooted in European culture in the era of industrial society and was associated with the formation of a new industrial, highly professional worker. The industrial and technological progress of developed countries, their achievements in the field of material well-being and world exploration were closely linked to the focus on the study of details, the accumulation of knowledge about specific processes, and narrow professional specialization, understood as the availability of special skills. Obtaining special education, professional mastery of any particular type of work becomes socially beneficial and socially significant. Special education in these conditions becomes a priority value. Thus, education is not only subordinated to the needs of production, but also, to a certain extent, influences the formation of social needs and values.

The specialization of education in itself is not a threat to the comprehensive development of the individual; on the contrary, special education is a necessary and significant component of primary professionalization, the most important stage in the transformation of a person into a professional. The problem is that sometimes specialized knowledge turns out to be the most socially significant and replaces other universal values. Moral and aesthetic values become secondary and subordinate to specialized knowledge, and the social and humanitarian education of the individual is declared superfluous.

This situation is typical of the industrial model of civilization in general.

The reduction of the social and humanitarian to the natural sciences became a worldview of European culture under the influence of the natural sciences, especially classical mechanics and then physics. A significant drawback of the educational systems of industrialized countries is the underestimation of the moral component of education, the secondary importance of moral values in relation to such values as reason, law, and economics. The development of industry, mass production, which required the training of specific specialists, led to the deindividuation and dehumanization of vocational education, and the displacement of spiritual components to the periphery of the individual.

Meanwhile, M. Scheler noted that “education is not “training for something”, for a profession, specialty, or productivity, and even more so, education does not exist for the sake of such training” [4].

The humanitarian component of social and humanitarian knowledge is represented by a cycle of worldview disciplines aimed at studying the history and theory of man as a special spiritual being. Studying during university professional training, along with special disciplines of history, cultural studies, religious studies, various philosophical sciences – history and theory of philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, anthropology, logic, etc. – is intended to promote intellectual, moral and aesthetic development of the personality of future professionals. Philosophical knowledge is part of the methodological support not only for scientific research, but also for many types of professional activities that are necessary for the organization of theoretical and applied research [4].

A modern professional should have the qualities of a spiritually rich person. In recent years, democratic traditions have been strengthened, conditions for personal development have been improved based on the use of cultural diversity, its universal and national wealth, which is represented in the humanitarian cycle of all academic disciplines, transforming the values of world culture from a subject of study into a substantive basis for education and human life. The humanization of the educational and cultural process in the higher education system aims to focus on training a specialist as an educated person whose professional skills are only a reflection of his or her holistic being. It should be noted here that only a harmonious combination of special, natural science and social and humanitarian disciplines in the educational process is the key to successful professionalization of a person. The modern, complex, dynamic world is the result of the interaction between humans and nature, so understanding the processes taking place in the world requires a certain common culture that includes not only the social and humanitarian component, but also the natural aspect.

The main features of the new (twenty-first century) paradigm of social and humanitarian knowledge can be defined as follows. There is a convergence of natural sciences and social sciences and humanities on the basis of strengthening the axiological component of scientific creativity. The development and improvement of methods and principles of social cognition itself, which directly correspond to its subject matter, is intensifying and deepening, and new methods are being formed, in particular, based on a synergistic understanding of reality [5]. Attention is increasingly being paid to the subjective, personal aspects of the subject matter of social sciences and humanities research. Increasingly, the center of gravity of the cognitive interest of representatives of socio-humanitarian knowledge is transferred to the subject of activity.

List of references

1. Bell D. The Post- Industrial Society: The Evolution of an Idea. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Social Forecasting. 1993.
2. Novikov P. N., Zuev V. M. Advanced vocational education: scientific and practical manual. Kyiv, 2000. 435 с.
3. Whitehead AN Selected works on philosophy. Kyiv, 2020. 278 с.
4. Scheler M. Outstanding works. Kyiv, 2014. 265 с.
5. Karlov N. V. Synthesis of the humanities and the natural sciences. Humanitarian training of students of non-humanitarian higher education institutions and specialists in the humanities: materials of the international conference. April 2-3, 2021. Vinnytsia, 2021. С. 34-48.